Labyrinth: Saving the Fallen City

Sand Dwellers

I stood closer to Jareth as the strange creatures moved in towards us. Their legs marched with sure step and their torsos swung from side to side with each staggering movement. Sand fell from their small bodies to the ground. They held strange weapons in their hands made of sand .  like it was their lifeline. Cloth and armor cloaked their bodied in the color of cream sand. Contrary to the clothes and paint on their bodies, the skin on the creatures was a deep orange. Their faces were tightly wrinkled with sharp features. Their eyes were pale like the cracked lips above their chins.

“State your business” The largest one asked poking his weapon in our direction. “I am Jareth, King of the Goblins. I have come to see my brother who resides in your castle, King of the Sand Dwellers’” Jareth spoke loudly. The Sand Dweller looked at Jareth carefully before nodding. “He wants to see the king!” He shouted for everyone to hear and pointed behind us. I watched Jareth turn slowly and look upon the castle behind us. He nodded reassuring himself and walked towards the castle.

It was a rather large castle, not as big as Jareth’s. It stood on cliffs beside the ocean with waves crashing into its side every couple of seconds. Five different towers reached towards the sky with low arcs in between. I couldn’t figure out what the door was at such a distance. It looked very strange. The only windows on the entire castle were on the left side which was away from the ocean. Just as I was looking to its unsteady foundation, a sand weapon was shoved into my back and my body was thrown forwards. “I can walk on my own” I muttered causing Jareth to look down at me with a raised eyebrow.

We walked around the bottom and the Sand Dwellers pointing up. We needed to climb the steps made out of the ocean cliff to the castle. I watched the sharp edges camouflaged in the black rock to make sure they wouldn’t cut my feet. The shard points were so abundant, I assumed they were actual beings and placed themselves in my path. Jareth walked in front of me up the stairs with ease because of his hard shoes leaving me in the back doing a funny little dance around the pointed rocks. The Sand Dwellers behind me huffed and hit their weapons on the ground when I would take too long to assess where I could hurt myself before taking each step. It felt like hours before reaching the final step.

 As we approached the castle, I saw its age. It held the beauty of time itself. The towering walls were cracked like the desert floor and the walkway was just as bad. The ground was dry until we reached the door and the ground turned to soaked sand. The waves crashing on the other side flowed towards us but dissipated before taking out feet. The crashing of waves sounded so close, yet I couldn’t figure out why! As soon as Jareth moved to the left a little I knew where the sound was coming from. The entire door was rushing water. The door was like a crashing wave being held back from breaking. I reached my hand out to touch the phenomenon when it was slapped away with a sand weapon.

“Walk through” The leader said and pushed Jareth forwards first. He took a step towards the door then shrugged his shoulders and walked through the water like it was a regular door and not a massive wall of water. “Your next miss” The leader said nudging me. “Okay, you can do this” I said and held my hand out. The full weight of the water crashed down on my hands and I bit my lip. “Miss?” He asked. “I’m going” I said and took a step then turned back around. “Will it hurt?” I asked. “It might if you have to go through with one of these through your back” The leader said holding a sand weapon in front of him. “Well then I guess I’ll go alone” I said turning back around and walking into the water. At first I felt like the entire weight of the ocean was on me but when I stepped into the castle, I emerged completely dry and unscathed.

“Were you having a tea party out there?” Jareth asked me when I was finished evaluating myself to make sure I was alright. “Yes actually, we had to wait until all the negative influences were gone first” I said. He rolled his eyes at me and turned around when footsteps echoed down the hall.